Asia

Last week the world was stunned by the bloody scenes of carnage in the aftermath of the terrorist onslaught across Mumbai (formerly Bombay). The attack, which began late Wednesday night extended over ten different sites in India's financial capital. It struck Mumbai's two best-known luxury hotels and other landmarks in the city of 18 million.

On Saturday, November 29, 2008 a huge procession of the Jammu Kashmir National Students Federation (JKNSF) marched from Committee Square to the Rawalpindi Press Club, at the historic Liaquat Bagh, where a large public meeting was held, in which over 4,000 students from all over the country attended.

We have received this article from Malaysia about the campaign against the Internal Security Act 1960. The repressive Act is based on legislation introduced by the British imperialists in their struggle against communist insurgency, but 51 years after independence it is still being used by the Malaysian government. The struggle for democratic rights is part of the struggle for socialism and we appeal to all In Defence of Marxism readers to support the campaign.

The Nepalese Maoist leaders, having dissolved their rebel army and entered parliamentary politics, are justifying their position with the idea that what faces the Nepalese masses is the bourgeois democratic revolution. This is encapsulated in the idea of the alliance of two classes, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. In reality power remains in the hands of the bourgeois who exploit the authority of the former guerrilla leaders to hold the masses back from going the whole way.

This year November 7, "Bolshevik Day", was celebrated the length and breadth of Pakistan with protests, demonstrations, rallies and seminars promoted by the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign, PTUDC, together with other political and trade union bodies. The rallies also centred on a campaign against the privatisation of the Qadirpur Gas field and also against steep price increases and growing unemployment.

Pakistan is facing an acute crisis. In this situation the PPP leadership is under pressure to carry out the brutal dictates of imperialism, pushing millions deeper into misery. A radical mood is developing in this situation and the Marxists can emerge as a strong tendency on the basis of this situation.

Yesterday we received the sad news of the death of comrade Javed Shaheen, who passed away peacefully in his sleep. Javed was a very famous poet and one of the pioneers of Progressive writers' association of Pakistan. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of the International Marxist Tendency. We publish here an obituary by Alan Woods.

Pakistan is in danger of defaulting on its payments on foreign debt. It is one of the weak links in the world chain of capitalism. The PPP in government is buckling under the pressure of the capitalists and landlords and is failing to solve any of the fundamental problems facing the masses. In these conditions the role of the Marxists in providing an alternative becomes key.

Communism is suddenly back in fashion in Japan. The reason is not hard to find. 'Lifetime employment' is a thing of the past for young workers, whoface a casualised and insecure future. They have already worked out that, as recession bites, they will be first in the firing line. They are drawing political conclusions in increasing numbers.

Here we provide a day-by-day chronology of how the dispute at Graziano Trasmissioni started and developed over a period of months. What emerges the brutal treatment of workers and the terrible wages and working conditions they have had to suffer. This report is based on an interview with two workers at Graziano Trasmissioni.

The news that a manager at Graziano, an Italian multinational company, had been lynched recently made the rounds of the world media. Here we provide the facts as provided by the workers in India themselves, which shows that the workers were not responsible. They are being blamed as a tactic to break the workers’ struggle. They need the support and solidarity of workers of all countries.

China's urbanization process has reached a critical juncture, inequality between town and country is producing explosive revolts surrounding the cities. The problem of how to contain these revolts is at the core of policy making and is reflected in conflicts inside the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

A British Army brigadier recently admitted what we said long ago on the pages of this website: a military victory over the Taliban was “neither feasible nor supportable”. Neither side is winning and this is pushing the more realistic and serious minded strategists of capital to look at other solutions, a deal of some kind. Meanwhile the ordinary people continue to suffer.

From a situation where there was universal healthcare for the whole population, China has become one of the most unequal countries in the world when it come to access to healthcare. The answer to the growing healthcare problems that the leaders of the so-called Communist Party have come up with is more private healthcare!